Although not always a part of the Destiny 2 experience, at this point seasons are now a fixture in the game and it appears that will be the case for the rest of its life. Since they are clearly sticking around, let’s look back and rank the best (and worst) Destiny 2 seasons to try and get a feel for what Bungie has got right over the last few years, and what they got horribly wrong.
8. Season of the Hunt
Season of the Hunt, packed in with the launch of Beyond Light is the most meh season I can think of. While Season of the Worthy might have been a blow out (which we’ll get to in a second) Season of the Hunt is just so forgettable.
Wrathborn Hunts are just whatever. You do it for the powerful drop until you don’t need them anymore, and maybe you farm a Deafening Whisper or whatever gun you like best from it. It’s basically a much less rewarding version of the Umbral Engrams from Season of Arrivals that centers around an activity that gets very old very fast.
Initially, the idea of tracking enemies was pretty cool, but once you realize there are only very few paths they can take it becomes dull. I just needed to see the first couple of tracks and by then I knew exactly where to go.
The only highlight of this season was the rollout of the Hawkmoon series of quests. While they are quality content, they revolves around getting and upgrading one gun (yet another Hand Cannon). If you don’t like Hand Cannons, then pretty much this entire season is a wash in terms of rewarding content exclusive to Season of the Hunt. At least the story content for Hawkmoon was decent.
7. Season of the Undying
Like Season of the Hunt, Season of the Undying was a pack-in season for the start of Shadowbringers.
Both suffer from similar issues. They just feel very light compared to other seasons, and as a result, their content got repetitive.
Season of the Undying had invasion public events and the Vex Offensive activity. Both were… fine, but like Season of the Hunt, were questionable in terms of rewards and fun factor.
What gives Season of the Undying the edge is that at least Vex Offensive was kind of entertaining for just blasting through waves of Vex and testing out new builds, weapons, or just screwing around in a very low-pressure situation that’s less brain-dead than Wrathborn Hunts while getting some okay rewards at the end of it.
6. Season of the Worthy
It might be a hot take putting Season of the Worthy above Season of the Hunt and the Undying. Season of the Worthy is generally considered by many the worst era in Destiny 2 since the seasonal model began.
The main reason is probably due to the poor timing of it. It came at a time where players were feeling a bit fatigued and were looking for something to really shake up the gameplay.
Instead, what they got was a season that only featured a new public event and a reduction of the control over their loot, both of which were steps back from Season of Dawn.
All that said, the weapons were excellent and are still critical parts of the meta due to their importance in Warmind Cell builds. The public event itself was also challenging at least, and I found upgrading the Warmind bunkers to be oddly satisfying.
Finally, it was also the first season to ever feature an end of season send-off event. While it wasn’t perfect, it was still something new and interesting that bungie had never done before.
Even with all of its issues and poor timing, the positives outweigh anything that Season of the Hunt or Undying brought to the table.
5. Season of the Drifter
Season of the Drifter, depending on your opinion of Gambit, falls either right around here or towards last place. I happen to enjoy Gambit, and I liked the initial idea that Bungie had around creating roles in Gambit Prime, so for me, Season of the Drifter wasn’t all bad.
The Invitation quest line was fascinating and it was great to learn more about Drifter and the extremely mysterious Nine.
The Reckoning activity was… an experience. It was at the height of player power where essentially Guardians were almost unkillable, so Bungie tried to counter that by just throwing hordes of enemies at us nonstop on top of bosses that could fling us across the map if we got even remotely close to them. Good times.
The Gambit Prime roles really could have been a great idea if they weren’t tied to grinding for armor and were more easily accessible instead. Or even better, just something you could queue up for. Maybe one day.
4. Season of Dawn
This is when we start getting to seasons that were objectively well-constructed. Season of Dawn definitely had a lot going on for it.
While its seasonal activity, Sundial, wasn’t the most exciting content ever released into Destiny 2 as it was basically diet-Menagerie, it was just as rewarding as Menagerie, if not more so.
Yes there was a bit of grinding to do to get the Sundial going and the rewards flowing, but once you put the time in you were getting more weapons than you knew what to do with.
Not only were the weapons pretty great and meta until they were sunset, but Bungie also threw in some reprised Lost Prophecy weapons from Curse of Osiris for good measure.
Like Season of the Worthy, Season of Dawn also added an interesting new set of armor mods that were tied to the Charged With Light mechanic, which is still popular to this day.
All this doesn’t even include the story content which involved Osiris fighting time itself to bring back Saint-14. Very cool stuff there.
Finally, there was the Corridors of Time spectacle. It was one of the most exciting few days in Destiny history. I was on the edge of my seat watching Sweatcicle try and brute force his way through the maze for hours. If only its reward wasn’t spoiled by Bungie ahead of time.
3. Season of the Forge
This spot was a toss-up between Season of Dawn and what I ultimately decided to go with, Season of the Forge.
Season of the Forge, for me at least, was an excellent balance between challenge and reward. The Forges, at least during the season, were quite challenging, but the opportunity to get really great (and awesome looking) Black Armory weapons and armor was the highlight.
Sure, other seasons were far more generous and rewarding, but there was just something satisfying about the loop of Black Armory.
I don’t know, maybe I’m just drunk with nostalgia over Hammerhead, Blast Furnace, and The Ringing Nail. Those weapons and many others were meta pretty much right up until they got sunset.
Plus, if you count it as Season of the Forge content, Scourge of the Past released as well, which was a very fun and rewarding raid.
2. Season of Arrivals
Season of Arrivals, or as I like to call it, Season of the Umbral Engram, is up next.
Everyone loved Umbral Engrams! It was a fun system that gave you a ton of control over fine-tuning what drops you wanted, without tying them to activity and just overwhelming you with drops you may not need, like Season of Dawn did. It was so well-received that Bungie decided to bring them back for Season of the Chosen.
Plus, Season of Arrivals finally marked the, well, arrival of the Darkness in Destiny. Seeing pyramids looming in skies around the Sol system was quite dramatic and eerie.
The story content teased out throughout the season also delivered a lot of useful lore about the Darkness and the mysterious Savathun, both of which will be important in future expansions.
Finally, Season of Arrivals added the Prophecy dungeon, which is yet again another stellar three-person raid-like experience. The perfect blend of time, effort, and skill needed with an appropriate reward to match.
1. Season of Opulence
Season of Opulence was the one time where Bungie just nailed the entire season, wire to wire. The roadmap was loaded, the activities were top tier, the rewards were on point, and we got more Calus. There’s never too much Calus.
Let’s start with the Chalice of Opulence and the Menagerie. The Menagerie was by far the best seasonal activity added to date. It was essentially rapid-fire bite-sized raid encounters that could be completed by any group, but rewarded skilled groups with quick and satisfying clears.
Those looking for an extra challenge could run the Menagerie on Heroic which, at the time of its release, was quite the challenge.
Season of Opulence added three new exotic quests: Truth, Lumina, and Bad Juju and added a raid, Crown of Sorrow, which added yet another exotic Tarrabah. Thrown in for good measure was the catalyst to Izanagi’s Burden, which turned it into a beast. Needless to say, there was plenty of rewarding questable content for players to chase.
Circling back to the raid, Crown of Sorrow was quite challenging, especially when compared to Scourge of the Past. It’s among the most mechanic heavy raids in Destiny 2 and completing it was an accomplishment worth celebrating.
I almost forgot to mention the Tribute Hall, which was a great spot to test weapons and relish in your accomplishments.
Season of Opulence and the Menagerie content was so well-received it actually became sort of a problem for Bungie. They set the bar so high and now everything they do is going to be measured up to the Menagerie and what they added as a whole in Season of Opulence. And as of the time of this writing, Season of Opulence is still on top.
Published: Feb 4, 2021 02:43 pm